This is the 35 USC 371 national stage of International Application PCT/FR99/00345 filed on Feb. 16, 1999, which designated the United States of America.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of marking the ground, in particular streets and parking spaces, by means of marking strips and has for its object an autonomous device for laying such strips.
2. Background of the Invention
At present, the horizontal marking of parking spaces, as well as the provisional marking of streets, particularly detours on streets undergoing work, are generally carried out by means of strips, which may be self-adhesive, applied with heat and pressure. Emplacement of the strips is generally carried out manually by first cutting them out, then applying them to the ground, if desired with heat, and supplemental pressure by means of heat and supplemental pressure by means of a suitable device. For the application of self-adhesive strips, a first stripping of protective film from their adhesive surface is necessary, partially complicated the work of laying them and involving a corresponding loss of time. Moreover, manual laying of these strips, which are relatively heavy, often requires at least two operators and is relatively difficult.
There has been proposed, in FR-A-2 674 874, an autonomous device for laying self-adhesive strips, constituted by a support frame for means for unrolling strips, by a roller for applying the strip to the ground, by a transfer device of the strip, from the unrolling means to the application roller, by means for stripping and recovering the protective film on the self-adhesive surface, by a device for sectioning the strip and by a drive assembly for the chassis and the different devices and the means for unrolling, stripping, recovery and sectioning the strip to be applied.
Moreover, French utility certificate 2 723 753 discloses an autonomous device for laying self-adhesive strips, in particular for marking the ground, characterized in that it comprises an articulated rolling frame, whose forward portion carries the roll of strip to be unrolled, the assembly for unrolling the strip, the sectioning device and the application means of the strip to the ground, such that the unrolling and application assembly can be oriented independently of the rear portion of the frame.
The marking of the ground with prefabricated strips is at present developing, both as to the adhesives and as to the structure of the strips themselves that are laid. The continuously improved performance of the adhesives now makes it possible to return to strips to which adhesive is directly applied, to the detriment of the self-adhesive strips which require more complicated machines, and hence are more costly and more difficult to use and maintain. The always-increasing requirement for speed of application and quality of marking require that machines available at present on the market are no longer suitable or even are completely obsolete.
The present invention has for its object the provision of an autonomous device for laying prefabricated strips, in particular for marking the ground, permitting much higher speeds of application and hence the great reduction of time during which the sections of the roadway under construction or renovation are blocked. By way of example, and without thereby imparting any limitation, a strip application device according to the present invention can reach up to 4 km/h for continuous strips, a speed heretofore never reached while unrolling and laying prefabricated strips. Moreover, reopening the traffic lane is possible as soon as the marking is completed and this whether the marking is temporary or permanent. Another advantage of the device of the present invention is that it at the same time produces a quality of marking (trueness) and an ease of application substantially greater than those of known machines.
The present invention has for its object an autonomous device for laying strips, in particular for marking the ground, constituted essentially by a rolling frame for supporting a spool of strip to be unrolled, said spool being mounted on a spool-carrying axle provided with at least one gripping means, with an assembly for unrolling the strip, by means for applying the band to the ground comprising an applicator roller, by a device for sectioning the strip and by a drive assembly for the frame and for actuating the different devices and unrolling means, characterized in that said assembly of unrolling the strip and said means for applying the strip are, at least at the time of unrolling and laying the strip, synchronized in rotation with each other by at least one synchronization means. The synchronization means used in the present invention consist of an arrangement of belts, pulleys and/or double pulleys and the like.
The assembly for unrolling the strip is constituted by a fixed axle, a feed roller, an upper traction drum coacting with at least one upper roll-carrying axle, a driver and separator, of which the rollers are in the form of rollers or pointed roller or with projecting portions, these points or projecting portions being in one piece or connected to and arranged in diamond fashion from one roller to the other with the intersection of their generatrices.
In a preferred embodiment, the device according to the invention moreover comprises means for straightening the strip, for example in the form of a straightening axle provided with a straightening roller. The straightening means is thus parallel to the unrolling assembly and provided with one or several guide means permitting adjusting straightening, the widths and the gripping of the strip. The adjustment of the straightening means is preferably carried out by means of the mentioned guide means, placing the gripping means of the spool-carrying axle. In particular, it can be provided that the adjustment of the guide means of the straightening means is carried out such that the strip will be slightly stretched over the straightening axle of the straightening means.
As to the sectioning of the strip to be adhered, this is carried out by a sectioning device permitting carrying out cuts on the fly.
A cut is called on the fly when it is made instantaneously without interrupting the movement of the strip to be cut.
The sectioning device of the present invention comprises a transverse blade made of quenched steel of well-defined hardness.
Said blade slides, during its cutting, between carrying guide slides while being actuated, at its end opposite the cutting end, by a sectioning jack. The sectioning jack can be a pneumatic jack controlled by an electrovalve with manual or automatic operation. The pneumatic jack is designed such that its power will be sufficiently high to cut all types of strips that exist or are to come. The forward and return path of the jack is preferably as small as possible. On the other hand, to be able to cut a wide and thick band or a thin and very flexible band, it is advantageous to be able to adjust the play existing between the blade and the counter-blade as well as the angles of grinding such that the cut will be clean and precise.
The presence of a straightening roller prevents the band from deviating to the left or right at the time of cutting. Thus, said roller keeps the band perfectly perpendicular to the plane of the cut, which gives perfectly square cuts.
As will be described later, the sectioning device comprises, in addition to the mentioned blade, a counter-blade, said blade being arranged perpendicularly to the plane of the strip between the unrolling assembly and the applicator means and coacts, for sectioning, with said counter-blade extending over a support parallel to said blade between the upper drum of the unrolling assembly and the applicator roller, so as to produce an instantaneous cut without stopping the machine.
This device for cutting on the fly permits obtaining speeds of application of the band that are much higher than those possible with apparatus of the prior art. As already mentioned, the blade and/or the counter-blade are of quenched steel, so as to ensure sufficient mechanical resistance to the cutting instruments as well as a high and constant quality cut.
The autonomous device for laying strips moreover comprises a control and display console for driving the apparatus. This console will be described in a more detailed manner later and has, in addition to the usual members permitting operating the apparatus, a programmable robot for controlling the laying of the strip. The device comprising a control and display console having a programmable robot for controlling the laying of the strip is characterized in that said console comprises a control member permitting selecting between three manners of carrying out the cutting, either manually, or semi-automatically, or automatically.